Generally speaking, DaaS is about transforming desktops into a cloud service. However, there are already a number of different approaches to DaaS and they vary considerably. To start, I thought it would be helpful to classify the different versions of DaaS as they exist today.

CIO, CTO & Developer Resources

Cloud computing has reached an absolute frenzy in the IT media. It seems like the cloud is well on its way to displace the virtualization craze that started last summer and which has carried us through the past 12 months. As a result, I thought it would be an appropriate time to discuss how we think DaaS fits into the cloud phenomena.

Generally speaking, DaaS is about transforming desktops into a cloud service. However, there are already a number of different approaches to DaaS and they vary considerably. To start, I thought it would be helpful to classify the different versions of DaaS as they exist today. At the highest level, there are two general categories of DaaS – those based on local (or distributed) execution and those that leverage centralized (or remote) execution. This mimics the client computing taxonomy I helped create at Microsoft and which is outlined in the Flexible Desktop Computing white paper I co-authored.

So far, there’s really only one form of DaaS that’s emerged within the local execution category and that’s the approach being touted by MokaFive. However, it’s difficult to classify this form of DaaS as cloud computing because the processing happens locally. I prefer to call this model “cloud-stored desktops” because that’s what it is – virtual desktops stored in the cloud (by MokaFive) and downloaded on-demand to users’ PCs where they run locally. So the conclusion here is that DaaS with local execution is actually a form of cloud storage as opposed to a form of cloud computing.

That leaves us with the centralized execution approaches to DaaS. Here are the ones that come to mind:

1. Browser-based – Solutions where a desktop environment is delivered as a cloud service inside a web browser environment. These are usually some form of webOS or webtop, with the better known examples including Stoneware webOS and G.ho.st.

2. Shared services – Terminal/Presentation Server solutions that deliver a Windows Server desktop along with a selection of applications. Companies like Nasstar offer this type of cloud-based DaaS.

The last (of course) is Desktone DaaS. Our form of DaaS is based on the server-hosted desktop virtualization model of client computing (commonly known as VDI). In this approach, desktops are hosted within virtual machines that run on data center servers. Users interact with these environments through PC remoting technology and all the processing happens in the data center.

The key benefits that Desktone DaaS offers with respect to the other forms of cloud-hosted desktops are:

· Preserves the rich Windows client experience in the cloud – Desktone DaaS is the only form of cloud computing that provides an uncompromised Windows client experience. This is due to the fact that it leverages a hypervisor layer which enables the hosting of authentic Windows client OSes (i.e. Windows XP, Vista, etc.) Conversely, shared services environments offer a Windows experience that compromises application compatibility and user personalization. Browser-based solutions (webOSes/webtops) also compromise the user experience because they don’t natively support Windows applications. For enterprises with a large investment in Windows applications, this limitation is an absolute deal breaker.

· Supports a combination of on- and off-premise hosting models – It’s possible for the virtual infrastructure (VI) powering Desktone DaaS to be hosted either in a service provider or enterprise data center or both. We refer to these two operational models as hosted/cloud and managed CPE (customer premise equipment). Think of a private service provider cloud as spanning both environments. If the service provider has connectivity into the enterprise and owns and operates the virtual infrastructure, the solution can be delivered “as a Service” regardless of where the VI is hosted. The benefit here is the flexibility of servicing enterprises with different sets of requirements. For organizations with users that are more sensitive to latency (from a remoting performance perspective) or more concerned about compliance, the CPE model makes a lot of sense. However, enterprises who have very little data center capacity or whose user populations are more distributed may find the hosted/cloud model more appealing. In contrast, the other forms of DaaS only support the off-premise hosting model, which can be an issue for many types of organizations.

· Separates service provider and enterprise responsibilities – Desktone DaaS is the only model that allows clean separation between the responsibilities of the service provider and the enterprise. This, again, is a function of the hypervisor layer, which creates a clear boundary between the infrastructure powering the VM and what’s inside those VMs. The service provider is responsible for everything up to the virtual machine (i.e. servers, storage, virtualization software, etc.) and the enterprise is responsible for everything inside the VM (i.e. OS image/licensing, application packaging/licensing, user profiles, etc.) In addition, the private network connectivity between the service provider and the enterprise allows the service provider to host virtual desktops (either in their data center or the enterprise data center) while all application servers and data storage are still retained in the enterprise data center. This solves the age-old issue of data security that arises with the other forms of DaaS (and SaaS, for that matter). In those other models, application and user data normally have to be stored in the service provider’s data center which creates a major concern for many enterprises.

· Sustains the existing enterprise IT operating model – Enterprise IT has built its entire client computing operation around Windows. This impacts everything from application development, licensing and deployment to end-user support and training as well as many other aspects. The need to abandon all or part of that legacy is a major obstacle for other forms of DaaS, whether browser-based or shared services. Conversely, Desktone DaaS allows IT to continue with its current operating model while at the same time introducing many of the benefits provided by the cloud (i.e. anytime/anywhere access, subscription economics, etc.)

In summary, we believe that the Desktone DaaS form of cloud-hosted desktops is the model that best links the legacy of enterprise IT with the future. It’s an evolutionary (as opposed to a revolutionary) step that allows organizations to start experiencing the benefits of cloud computing without abandoning the large investment they’ve made in their existing IT infrastructure.

Jeff Fisher has 17 years of business development, marketing and technical experience in virtualization, including at Microsoft, Softricity and Citrix. He guides many elements of Desktone's corporate strategy, technology alliances, competitive positioning and market development. He worked at Wired Business and NETLAN, and has an MBA from Columbia Business School.

In accordance with our Comment Policy, we encourage comments that are on topic, relevant and to-the-point. We will remove comments that include profanity, personal attacks, racial slurs, threats of violence, or other inappropriate material that violates our Terms and Conditions, and will block users who make repeated violations. We ask all readers to expect diversity of opinion and to treat one another with dignity and respect.

Your applications have evolved, your computing needs are changing, and your servers have become more and more dense. But your data center hasn't changed so you can't get the benefits of cheaper, better, smaller, faster... until now. Colovore is Silicon Valley's premier provider of high-density colocation solutions that are a perfect fit for companies operating modern, high-performance hardware. No other Bay Area colo provider can match our density, operating efficiency, and ease of scalability.

At CloudEXPO Silicon Valley, June 24-26, 2019, Digital Transformation (DX) is a major focus with expanded DevOpsSUMMIT and FinTechEXPO programs within the DXWorldEXPO agenda. Successful transformation requires a laser focus on being data-driven and on using all the tools available that enable transformation if they plan to survive over the long term. A total of 88% of Fortune 500 companies from a generation ago are now out of business. Only 12% still survive. Similar percentages are found throug...

As you know, enterprise IT conversation over the past year have often centered upon the open-source Kubernetes container orchestration system. In fact, Kubernetes has emerged as the key technology -- and even primary platform -- of cloud migrations for a wide variety of organizations.
Kubernetes is critical to forward-looking enterprises that continue to push their IT infrastructures toward maximum functionality, scalability, and flexibility.
As they do so, IT professionals are also embr...

Atmosera delivers modern cloud services that maximize the advantages of cloud-based infrastructures. Offering private, hybrid, and public cloud solutions, Atmosera works closely with customers to engineer, deploy, and operate cloud architectures with advanced services that deliver strategic business outcomes. Atmosera's expertise simplifies the process of cloud transformation and our 20+ years of experience managing complex IT environments provides our customers with the confidence and trust tha...

As you know, enterprise IT conversation over the past year have often centered upon the open-source Kubernetes container orchestration system. In fact, Kubernetes has emerged as the key technology -- and even primary platform -- of cloud migrations for a wide variety of organizations.
Kubernetes is critical to forward-looking enterprises that continue to push their IT infrastructures toward maximum functionality, scalability, and flexibility.
As they do so, IT professionals are also embr...

CloudEXPO has been the M&A capital for Cloud companies for more than a decade with memorable acquisition news stories which came out of CloudEXPO expo floor. DevOpsSUMMIT New York faculty member Greg Bledsoe shared his views on IBM's Red Hat acquisition live from NASDAQ floor. Acquisition news was announced during CloudEXPO New York which took place November 12-13, 2019 in New York City.

The platform combines the strengths of Singtel's extensive, intelligent network capabilities with Microsoft's cloud expertise to create a unique solution that sets new standards for IoT applications," said Mr Diomedes Kastanis, Head of IoT at Singtel. "Our solution provides speed, transparency and flexibility, paving the way for a more pervasive use of IoT to accelerate enterprises' digitalisation efforts. AI-powered intelligent connectivity over Microsoft Azure will be the fastest connected pat...

The graph represents a network of 1,329 Twitter users whose recent tweets contained "#DevOps", or who were replied to or mentioned in those tweets, taken from a data set limited to a maximum of 18,000 tweets. The network was obtained from Twitter on Thursday, 10 January 2019 at 23:50 UTC.
The tweets in the network were tweeted over the 7-hour, 6-minute period from Thursday, 10 January 2019 at 16:29 UTC to Thursday, 10 January 2019 at 23:36 UTC.
Additional tweets that were mentioned in this...

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, neural networks. We're in the midst of a wave of excitement around AI such as hasn't been seen for a few decades. But those previous periods of inflated expectations led to troughs of disappointment. This time is (mostly) different. Applications of AI such as predictive analytics are already decreasing costs and improving reliability of industrial machinery. Pattern recognition can equal or exceed the ability of human experts in some domains. It's devel...

Docker and Kubernetes are key elements of modern cloud native deployment automations. After building your microservices, common practice is to create docker images and create YAML files to automate the deployment with Docker and Kubernetes. Writing these YAMLs, Dockerfile descriptors are really painful and error prone.Ballerina is a new cloud-native programing language which understands the architecture around it - the compiler is environment aware of microservices directly deployable into infrastructures like Docker and Kubernetes.

The widespread success of cloud computing is driving the DevOps revolution in enterprise IT. Now as never before, development teams must communicate and collaborate in a dynamic, 24/7/365 environment. There is no time to wait for long development cycles that produce software that is obsolete at launch. DevOps may be disruptive, but it is essential.
DevOpsSUMMIT at CloudEXPO expands the DevOps community, enable a wide sharing of knowledge, and educate delegates and technology providers alike.

Docker and Kubernetes are key elements of modern cloud native deployment automations. After building your microservices, common practice is to create docker images and create YAML files to automate the deployment with Docker and Kubernetes. Writing these YAMLs, Dockerfile descriptors are really painful and error prone.Ballerina is a new cloud-native programing language which understands the architecture around it - the compiler is environment aware of microservices directly deployable into infrastructures like Docker and Kubernetes.

The widespread success of cloud computing is driving the DevOps revolution in enterprise IT. Now as never before, development teams must communicate and collaborate in a dynamic, 24/7/365 environment. There is no time to wait for long development cycles that produce software that is obsolete at launch. DevOps may be disruptive, but it is essential.
DevOpsSUMMIT at CloudEXPO expands the DevOps community, enable a wide sharing of knowledge, and educate delegates and technology providers alike.

Your applications have evolved, your computing needs are changing, and your servers have become more and more dense. But your data center hasn't changed so you can't get the benefits of cheaper, better, smaller, faster... until now. Colovore is Silicon Valley's premier provider of high-density colocation solutions that are a perfect fit for companies operating modern, high-performance hardware. No other Bay Area colo provider can match our density, operating efficiency, and ease of scalability.

At CloudEXPO Silicon Valley, June 24-26, 2019, Digital Transformation (DX) is a major focus with expanded DevOpsSUMMIT and FinTechEXPO programs within the DXWorldEXPO agenda. Successful transformation requires a laser focus on being data-driven and on using all the tools available that enable transformation if they plan to survive over the long term. A total of 88% of Fortune 500 companies from a generation ago are now out of business. Only 12% still survive. Similar percentages are found throughout enterprises of all sizes.

Skeuomorphism usually means retaining existing design cues in something new that doesn’t actually need them. However, the concept of skeuomorphism can be thought of as relating more broadly to applying existing patterns to new technologies that, in fact, cry out for new approaches.
In his session at DevOps Summit, Gordon Haff, Senior Cloud Strategy Marketing and Evangelism Manager at Red Hat, discussed why containers should be paired with new architectural practices such as microservices rather than mimicking legacy server virtualization workflows and architectures.

Take advantage of autoscaling, and high availability for Kubernetes with no worry about infrastructure. Be the Rockstar and avoid all the hurdles of deploying Kubernetes. So Why not take Heat and automate the setup of your Kubernetes cluster? Why not give project owners a Heat Stack to deploy Kubernetes whenever they want to?
Hoping to share how anyone can use Heat to deploy Kubernetes on OpenStack and customize to their liking.
This is a tried and true method that I've used on my OpenStack clusters and I will share the benefits, bumps along the way and the lessons learned.

In 2014, Amazon announced a new form of compute called Lambda. We didn't know it at the time, but this represented a fundamental shift in what we expect from cloud computing. Now, all of the major cloud computing vendors want to take part in this disruptive technology.
In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, John Jelinek IV, a web developer at Linux Academy, will discuss why major players like AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM Bluemix, and Google Cloud Platform are all trying to sidestep VMs and containers with heavy investments in serverless computing, when most of the industry has its eyes on Docker an...

xMatters helps enterprises prevent, manage and resolve IT incidents. xMatters industry-leading Service Availability platform prevents IT issues from becoming big business problems. Large enterprises, small workgroups, and innovative DevOps teams rely on its proactive issue resolution service to maintain operational visibility and control in today's highly-fragmented IT environment. xMatters provides toolchain integrations to hundreds of IT management, security and DevOps tools. xMatters is the primary Service Availability platform trusted by leading global companies and innovative challengers...

The dream is universal: heuristic driven, global business operations without interruption so that nobody has to wake up at 4am to solve a problem. Building upon Nutanix Acropolis software defined storage, virtualization, and networking platform, Mark will demonstrate business lifecycle automation with freedom of choice and consumption models. Hybrid cloud applications and operations are controllable by the Nutanix Prism control plane with Calm automation, which can weave together the following: database as a service with Era, micro segmentation with Flow, event driven lifecycle operations with...

Cloud computing budgets worldwide are reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars, and no organization can survive long without some sort of cloud migration strategy. Each month brings new announcements, use cases, and success stories.